ACPA Quarter 3 2016

www.acpa.org

Quarter 3, 2016

a c p a n e w s

The 6,516 residents of

the Village of Kimberly

in Wisconsin, a 2.4-square-mile municipality

along the Fox River, pay the same fees paid in

other municipalities—property taxes, water

and sewer bills, and parks and recreation

assessments. The difference, however, is that a

smaller percentage of tax revenue collected goes

to street maintenance, whichmeans moremoney

to enhance parks and other areas that improve

the quality of living in Kimberly.

Why the lower maintenance costs? The explana-

tion begins in the mid-1980s when the village

was facing the need to repave asphalt streets that

had been placed only 20 years earlier. Because

Kimberly assesses residents of the street a portion

of the cost to reconstruct or repave, and because

Kimberly is home to many long-time residents,

the feedback was not positive.

“We had one resident who paid for the street 20

years earlier and who said he wanted a street

that he wouldn’t have to pay for again,” says

Rick Hermus, Village Administrator from 1983

until 2012, and now a senior account executive at

McMahonAssociates. “The cost of oil was high at

the time, which brought the costs of concrete and

asphalt closer to each other, but when we looked

at the life-cycle costs, we decided not only to use

concrete for

this

street, but for all streets in the

village.” Presentations to homeowners explaining

the benefits of concrete resulted in buy-in from

homeowners, as they saw the value of paying for

the street every 50 years versus 20 years.

The commitment to concrete for the recon-

struction of all streets was made along with a

commitment to produce an ongoing five-year

plan for street projects. “The five-year plan lets

homeowners know when they will be asked to

pay their portion of the street assessment, which

means that no one is surprised,” says BradWerner,

P.E., Senior Project Engineer and Associate at

McMahon Associates. Werner handles engi-

neering duties for the village. “Every year we

reconstruct about 1,500 to 2,000 linear feet of

street, and homeowners have been able to plan

for that expense.” Real estate agents will even

use the information when marketing a home

to let potential buyers know when the street

is scheduled for reconstruction or to let them

know that they won’t be responsible for a more

recently rebuilt street.

Typical construction for residential areas is 33 ft

back-to-back of curb, 6 in. of non-reinforced

Pr ject

Snapshot

k imberly, wi

Mid-’80s—Concrete selected

for all street reconstruction

5-year plan aids in buy-in from residents

Homeowners share cost

1,500 to 2,000 linear feet replaced annually

Existing pavement used as base for new

continues »